Is eating breakfast really so important?

​This is the first of a regular weekly blog I’ll be posting here on a Monday or Friday, so let’s kick-off with something that around half of us kick-off our morning with, even if it's a bit rushed! 

​... Breakfast is that meal that we’re often told is the most important of the day.  But is it actually any more important than is taking calories and nutrients on board at other times of the day? Why would breakfast be any better for us than eating lunch or an evening meal?

               
​Breakfast kick-starts metabolism ... Really?

If you put “benefits of eating breakfast” into a search engine, one of the claims you'll read in the posts of bloggers is that breakfast will “kick-start your metabolism”. 

What do they mean by this?   

Our metabolism is the sum of hundreds of essential cellular processes that our body does 24/7, such as our heart beating, lungs inflating and deflating, liver detoxifying our blood – and the metabolic rate is the speed at which our metabolism burns calories, multi-tasking in a way that we (well, at least us  men!) can only dream of. 

So, the idea that breakfast “kick-starts your metabolism” doesn't make any sense – and this is supported by research.  Metabolism never stops, so it doesn’t need a helping hand to get started each morning.  It's still busy doing what it was already doing when your head hit the pillow last night!

... Or to coin a phrase that gives New York its famous nickname: metabolism is the activity that never sleeps.  And if it did ... well, we’d be more than asleep.

Does skipping breakfast make us overeat later on?

You may also have read that skipping breakfast makes us eat more later in the day. This is not supported by research, which found that eating breakfast within 2 hours of waking (and before 11am) or fasting until mid-day did not make any difference to how much people ate across the day. 

Over the years, some patients have told me that eating breakfast increases their appetite and makes them want to eat again before lunchtime arrives. Understandably, they are always reluctant to start a breakfast habit if they think their weight will go up instead of down!  The type of breakfast seems to be a factor here – a US study found that a high protein breakfast helped reduce hunger across the day.

Breakfast kick-starts our day's nutrient intake 

If you tend to skip breakfast, you may be reading this and wondering why do something that doesn't in fact kick-start metabolism. Let’s look at why making breakfast a daily habit is worth you considering ... 

Weight management is just one component of our health and wellbeing. Eating breakfast is an opportunity to start taking on board some of the nutrients needed for meeting our daily requirements. Think iron-fortified wholegrain cereal with a small glass of orange or grapefruit juice (the vitamin C aids iron absorption), which can deliver 25% of the target amount of iron.  

Are you getting enough fibre?

​The average fibre intake in adults is around 60% of what is recommended (30g a day), so fitting wholegrain cereal or toast into the day helps to bridge that gap.  A couple of poached (or scrambled) eggs delivers about 25% of our protein requirement and they are a good combo with wholegrain toast (for fibre and other nutrients) and grilled tomato, a great source of vitamins A and K1 – this vitamin can be in short supply in some diets.
 
Eating breakfast is a healthy habit to adopt as you step out on your journey to good health, wellbeing and management of your weight.  Are you among those who "don't have time for breakfast"?  Re-set your alarm to give yourself the extra 10 minutes you may need to kick-start your intake of nutrients for the day!

Perhaps you're someone who absolutely can't stomach the thought of eating anything until you've been up and about for a couple of hours? Or are you like me and thoroughly enjoy eating breakfast. Have any of you have noticed that eating breakfast makes you want to eat again before lunch time? 

Feel free to comment below ...

Tony Hirving
Dietitian